


A Brief Lapse of Gravity

by 60sec400



Series: Tumblr Prompts [7]
Category: Batman - All Media Types, Young Justice (Cartoon)
Genre: Aged-Up Character(s), Gen, The Team is Family, Writing, Young Justice - Freeform, but not, hahahaha, he's a bit of a big bro though so, opposite of de-aging, prompt, they love their little bro
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-23
Updated: 2017-09-23
Packaged: 2019-01-04 08:37:48
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,683
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12165354
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/60sec400/pseuds/60sec400
Summary: Robin isn't used to not being balanced. Klarion does something that none of them are really prepared for, and well, Robin suddenly can't feel comfortable in his own body. Opposite of deaging!





	A Brief Lapse of Gravity

**Author's Note:**

> Anonymous asked: in the middle of a fight klarion does something to robin that takes away his gracefulness/causes him to be clumsy and the teams has to figure PF how to reverse it temporarily clutsy/awkward robin would just be so funny to me
> 
> Response: Hey! Sorry this took so long for me to get too. I've been so busy with school! Here it is, and I don't think it's quite what you were looking for but I hope you like it! I definitely plan/want to continue this.

Robin rolled back onto his feet just as the spike of electrical magic exploded in his face. He dodged right, pulling his cape around him to keep the searing heat off his back. They really hadn't been expecting Klarion to be there, but the Lord of Chaos was protecting something, flinging his magic and calling them all 'kiddies' while they floundered around and tried to get rid of the stupid cat, Teekl.

"Isn't he a League priority villain or something?" Kid Flash asked as he zipped up to Robin's side, pulling him away from the small fire that now cackled behind them. They both ducked as a rock flew over their heads toward the force field around Klarion's personal space.

Robin wiped the blood from his face, scowling. "We can handle it, come on, I've got a plan."

It wasn't so much of a plan than it was a halfhearted idea based on previous battles, but it could work and hopefully allow Artemis or one of them to grab a hold of the cat and get rid of the damn thing so Klarion couldn't materialize anymore. If Robin could get on the things back, then maybe he'd be able to hold it still long enough for someone to knock it out or decapitate it— he had no qualms at this point of just killing the damn thing.

Well, okay, maybe he did, but that wasn't the point right now.

He dragged Kid Flash off to the side, ducking behind a thrown and half melted car. It was probably from the beginning of the battle when M'gann had been blasted back and Superboy had flipped his lid and thrown the S.T.A.R Labs van halfway across the now deserted freeway. Kid was beet faced and sweating, his suit torn across his shoulder. But there wasn't any blood, and so that was good.

Robin quickly relayed his plan to the speedster, wincing as the explosions sound behind them.

"What the fuck!" Artemis screeched, and then they heard Klarion laughing and the twang of Artemis' bow.

Robin winced a little and gripped Kid Flash's shoulder. "Go, now. I got this," he said.

"Better not die," Kid muttered, but picked himself up and zipped off anyway.

Just as Robin was about to stand up, the rumbling of an engine took to the air. But it wasn't coming from behind him, where the battle was, it was above them. A Javelin, one of the League's ships. That meant that someone had reported seeing Klarion and the League had gotten the notification. He rolled his eyes. Great, that meant they'd be chewed out for not calling the League themselves.

He scowled then, and unlatched a pocket for his smoke bombs. Klarion might not be bothered by them, but the cat would. Hopefully. He leapt up and threw them over the van. Smoke erupted around them, filling up the darkness and covering him from the light of the streetlamps. He lurched forward, feeling a little green, but flipped into the fray below. Above him, he could make out the form of the Javelin descending around them. He sprinted ahead, leaping over a puddle of gasoline and jamming his Bo into the ground and flipping over Superboy to where the cat was.

It was in its giant Sabertooth form, and the second Robin made contact with his back, the thing arched it's back and roared.

"Hold still!" he snapped, clutching the fur in his hands and leaning forward to keep himself steady. "KF! Now would be a good time!"

"Hey!" Klarion shrieked, "Get off my Teekl!" The smoke was already clearing from the Javelin's engines, and Robin could see the blue force field surrounding the Lord of Chaos was dissipating. Superboy roared, launching himself forward at the being. Klarion dodged left, rolling back and then straightening himself and his clothes as the clone barreled into a lamppost.

"Not so elegant," he exclaimed, grinning snidely. He turned to where Teekl was trying, and failing, to rip Robin of her back, but he held on for dear life. If he let go, he wouldn't be able to activate his flash bomb. KF was supposed to knock the cat out, but that didn't seem to be happening. Robin ducked into the cats fur as a lightning bolt of magic flew past his face. Zatanna leapt forward, screaming her own magic.

Klarion laughed. "Poor, poor kiddies." His appearance began to look more and more demonic, his eyes glowing a deep red. Just as he thrust his hand out, Wonder Woman jumped down and slammed her shield into his fist. The chaos being was flung back. Teekl roared, bounding after Wonder Woman.

"Robin! Get off!"

He wasn't actually sure who was talking, but it sound kinda familiar. It didn't matter. He had to stop the cat before it reached Klarion or Wonder Woman. He tightened his legs around the animals torso, squeezing his thighs so hard he thought he might explode, and let go of the fur. The ride became unsurprisingly more bumpy. He reached into his belt and held the bomb close to the animals fur.

Wonder Woman was steadying herself, shouting at the other Leaguers to grab Klarion. Superboy joined her, and together they held their fists up, ready to fight.

"Robin! Now would be a good time to do whatever it was you planned!" the clone hollered.

He clicked the button and as the beeping rapidly decreased, he heard a shouted, animalistic, "No!" and then was flying off the cat. He slammed into the ground and Klarion suddenly materialized in front of him. He picked up the Boy Wonder, his grin stretched thin like a clowns and his eyes a glowing deep red. Robin squirmed, but it was too late to do anything.

"You want to destroy my Teekl so bad, fine. Then I'll make it harder for you to get your own bearings!" He spoke some unintelligible words and then bent down, flinging Robin across the pavement. A bright light erupted around them and suddenly Robin knew no more.

][][][

The man that landed where Robin should have was taller, muscular, and definitely wearing a costume. It was mostly grey, with a blue bird along his chest, and he was wearing a domino mask too. He was completely passed out, but breathing. M'gann landed down on the ground, making sure that the man was okay. Klarion had grabbed the cat and disappeared, leaving a half-burning freeway and a lot of wreckage. Kid Flash was instantly at her side, hands hovering over the man.

"What happened to Robin?"

"I don't know, Klarion blasted him back and then," she gestured over the man's still form. "He appeared."

"This has to be some trick," Kid said, scowling down. "You think he knows anything about where Robin is?"

"He hasn't even woken up yet," M'gann said, biting her lip with worry. "But if Robin disappeared…"

Black Canary suddenly appeared at their side. She didn't kneel down and her anger was evident. Both of the members of the Team winced, glancing away. They should've called the League the moment Klarion appeared, but they thought they could handle it. Now Robin was gone, and this man was left in his place. "We need to get back to the cave. You all have a lot of explaining to do."

"What about the man?"

Black Canary's anger faded and she kneeled down to reach under the man's throat. Breathing, and alive. "He… is suspect, of course. But Wonder Woman and I will take him up to the Watchtower. He was left here by Klarion, that means that he's the League worry now." She paused. "I'll keep you updated though."

"And Robin?" M'gann asked, her eyes glancing over the team as they slowly pulled themselves out of the wreckage. Artemis's bow was completely snapped in half, and Aqualad had been out most of the fight once the fires had started burning. M'gann had luckily been able to offer aid from above, but the leader of the team had been forced to retreat.

The woman sighed, running her fingers through her hair. "We'll deal with that later. When this man wakes up, we should have answers."

They both nodded and then picked themselves up. "We'll be at the cave," Wally whispered, turning and grabbing M'gann to make their way toward the rest of the team. The Bioship was parked some ways away, away from the freeway and back toward where they'd originally been doing recon. Batman would not only be unhappy that they'd been spotted and managed to blow up another piece of state property, but that they'd manage to lose Robin.

Artemis looked over both of them, her brow furrowing with concern. "Where's Robin?"

Wally winced and his shoulder sagged.

][][][

"Is he secure?" Diana asked, looking over the Javelin's small jail 'room' with Dinah by her side.

"He's not getting out of there," Dinah said, sighing. "I just hope that when he does wake up, he's willing to give us answers."

"He appears as if he is a hero, yes? He should cooperate," Diana said. She swung her sword around and his the tip against the palm of her hand. "And should he not, he'll feel my sword at his throat."

Dinah winced. "I have a feeling Bruce might want to get to him first either way."

Diana seemed to juggle her thoughts for a moment. "Richard means more to most people than just him. If the boy is gone, then I will want to piece of this man too. And Klarion." She sheathed the sword on her back and scowled deeply at the man held down, his arms tied behind his back and his apparent utility belt hung up outside the door.

Dinah nodded, and then clicked the button to close the door. The metal door lowered shut and hissed as it latched closed. The two made their way to the ships control, and Dinah took the Javelin and pointed it toward the sky. Neither spoke as they docked in the Watchtower, both electing to keep the silence together. Slowly, they opened the door to where the prisoner was. He was still unconscious, muttering softly to himself unintelligible words.

"He's waking up," Diana said and then strode forward.

"Diana, wait!" Dinah protested, but the Amazon swung her elbow across the man's face. His head snapped to the side and then he fell completely limp. "Oh, my god. He's dead. You killed him."

Diana rested her head against his chest. "Alive! Let's take him to the med bay."

"How'd it go down there? Kids okay?" It was Barry, cowl down and grin wide, standing at the dock with his arms crossed. His frown faded when he saw their worried faces, and then he was striding forward. "What's wrong— whoa, who's this?"

"Not sure," Dinah answered as she hefted the prisoner onto her shoulder. Diana made up the other side, gripping the man and standing tall. He was taller than Black Canary, and the same height as Diana. It made for an awkward position. "Robin… was blasted away by Klarion. This man appeared instead, so we're taking him in to questioning."

Barry ran a hand through his blonde hair. "Um. Gotcha. Should I get Bats?"

The two women glanced at each other. Diana sighed. "Let us get this over with."

][][][

Black Canary slowly lowered the pad of paper as the man groaned. He jerked his arms up, and the chains barely let him move them up an inch before he realized he was shackled to the bed.

"What?" he rasped, and then through his mask found where she was standing, eyes narrowed. "Black, argh, Canary?"

"Who are you?" she demanded. "Do you know where Robin is?"

"Who am…?" he looked around the med bay and furrowed his brow. "Wait." He cleared his throat again. "Robin? I am Robin."

Black Canary stopped short, not prepared for that sort of confession. "Robin disappeared in a fight with Klarion. You appeared in his place. Do you know why that is?"

"What the… no, I swear you have to listen… what's wrong with my voice?" He reached to touch his throat, but the bindings on his wrist shook and he scowled down at them. "I think something's wrong."

"It is, we're missing Robin," she replied. And then sighed, turning away and heading towards the door. "You're going to tell us what you know."

"Wait, where are you—!"

The door swung shut behind her, and she turned to Batman and Wonder Woman. Batman was frowning deeply, glaring at the man in the bed. The man's head fell back against the white pillow and he pulled at his wrist bindings halfheartedly. The whites of his mask disappeared— he was closing his eyes. Dinah turned toward them, shrugging her shoulders. "What do you think?"

"I'll talk to him," Batman said, "but not yet. Let him wait. I'm going to go debrief the team."

He disappeared with a swipe from his cape, away from the two women and down the hall. Dinah titled her head back and scowled at the ceiling. Why couldn't the kids just call them? Was it that hard? Were they that prideful? A part of her understood that if she were in their position, she would do tremendously worse and probably wouldn't have called the League either.

Mistakes happen.

Just as she opened her mouth to speak again, Diana was pulling her out of the way of a fist. The man, having escaped his bindings, rolled backward. But it was as if his center of gravity were off and he tripped and landed on his back.

"Shoot!" and he rolled out of the way of Wonder Woman's foot. The floor crushed beneath the weight and she slung out her sword and slammed it on the ground. The man scurried off the floor, barely keeping his foot as he sprinted off down the hallway.

"Dinah!" the Amazon snapped, and slammed herself into the door frame as Dinah opened her mouth and canary screeched. The man barely made it around the corner as the walls and floor began to fall apart. "Get him!"

"On it!" Black Canary snapped, sprinting down the hall after him.

Batman and Flash suddenly appeared around the corner.

"What happened?" Bruce demanded.

"The prisoner has escaped," Diana said, swinging her sword around. "He is headed down the East Wing."

Flash took off instantly down the hall after Dinah. Diana turned on Batman. "We're not losing him."

"He might know what Klarion did to Robin."

"He might only be a distraction," she said, voicing an earlier thought she'd kept to herself. "To keep us from finding Robin so that our attention is on him. Klarion is known for his tricks."

"And I'm known for finding the truth," Bruce replied, his voice steady. He paused only a hair's breath. "Let's head back this way. We should be able to meet him at the end of the hall is Flash hasn't already found him."

In fact, Flash had found the man. They were squaring off, neither moving as they waited.

"You should probably turn yourself in. You might need some help getting of this thing," Flash quipped, his smile tight as he looked the man up and down.

"Help?" the man rasped, "Am I on the Watchtower?"

Barry frowned, jerking back. "Wait, how to do you know about—?"

"I told you," No-name snapped, "I think you guys are mistaken."

"That you know where Robin is?"

"I know exactly where he is, I am— oof!"

Barry barreled into the man and picked him up off the ground and then slammed his fist, regular old human speed, into his jaw. "Listen, punk, I don't normally get all Batman on villains, but I might make an exception for this kid."

No-name groaned. "Ow," he muttered.

"Flash."

Barry's grip loosened in suprise and then suddenly he found himself on the ground. The man had barely managed to flip the speedster over and bring his foot around into his chest. But his balance was off, and they both went tumbling to the floor. Before No-name could start running off again, Batman was grabbing him by his uniform and slamming into a wall. Diana shouted something, but it wasn't to stop the Gotham hero.

Barry almost felt bad for the guy. But then… no he didn't.

Batman dragged the man along the wall and then leaned up into his personal space. The man squirmed, but he either didn't know his strength or was just fighting for the fun of it, because Batman wasn't letting go. The struggle stopped and the man stilled, but he wasn't unconscious. He stared, wide eyed, down at Batman. It was clear he was afraid.

"Listen punk," Batman growled, "You appeared in my sons place, and now he's missing. Klarion put you there, so you either talk and walk out of here with your face intact, or you're in for one hell of a beating."

The man struggled to breath, to say something.

Batman growled and slammed the man's head into the wall.

"Batman!" Diana said, reaching forward to stop the man.

"He needs to talk!"

"He's trying! You're not giving him the chance, let the man breath!" Barry shouted.

Batman stilled, as if deciding if he really wanted to hear what No-name had to say. Finally, he let go, and the man fell to the ground. He grasped at his throat and heaved heavy breathes. They watched in silence.

"I know… where Robin is…," he said finally, his breaths long and deep.

Batman's hand twitched. "Talk."

"Mmm.. trying," he replied, leaning back onto his heels. His hands and shoulders dropped to his side and he held his head back. His brow was furrowed though, and he actually looked a little irritated. Irritated and afraid. "I know. I know where he is." He lifted his head up. "He's me. I'm Robin."

There's a long pause before Barry leans back and rocks on his heels. "I call bullshit."

No-name-fake-Robin lifts his hand and jabs his finger at Batman. "That's Bruce Wayne." And then he jabs his thumb at himself. "M' Richard Grayson." And then he passed out.

Batman slowly walked forward and kneeled down, sliding his finger underneath the mask the man was wearing. Slowly the glue started to pull off and Batman removed the mask, lying it gently on the ground as the older face of Dick Grayson appeared before them. It was badly bruised now, from not only Diana's elbow punch but Barry's and Bruce's fists.

"Oh shit," Barry muttered. "Oh, shit, shit, shit."

Diana frowned. "That is… interesting."

"Language," Bruce muttered to Barry. He ran his fingers over Dick's face and then slowly picked him up. "Whatever Klarion did, we have to figure out a way to reverse it."

Barry frowned, appearing in front of him. He touched the boys shoulder gently before he pulled away, walking backwards as Bruce moved forward back toward med bay. "What'd he even do? Make him older?"

Diana was on his other side, her stride matching his as she stared down at Dick's still form.

Bruce looked down at the face. For a split second, he'd been sure he was staring into the face of John Grayson. But that man had died five years ago, and now that Bruce was really looking the face over, he found that there was more Mary Grayson. And well, it was just so much more obvious as he looked his sons face over. But it was also, inexplicably, Dick's face. He was more than just two people put together. Bruce looked away in sudden guilt— Dick must be terrified.

"It appears so," Bruce confirmed.

They turned the corner and Dinah standing there, tapping her foot. She straightened a little when she saw them.

"You caught him?"

"It's Robin," Diana said. "Klarion changed… his age, it appears."

Dinah's shoulders dropped suddenly and her face grew long and confused. "What? That— oh my god."

One look at his face must've confirmed their words, and so she quickly turned and thrust the door open, ushering them all inside.

"Hook him up to the heart monitor and let's get a blood test started. Barry?"

"Already on it," the speedster said, rushing around and getting a syringe ready. Bruce stepped forward and ran his fingers through Dick's hair.

He looked so much older. "Can we get an age? Something to go by?"

"We'll figure it out, Bruce," Diana's voice said. She appeared across from him and reached across to gently touch his shoulder. It was brief, but he relaxed a little.

"I slammed him against a wall, Diana," he sighed, "I threatened him."

"You didn't know," she said sympathetically, "I elbowed him in the face inside the Javelin." She reached down and touched his cheek where the nasty purple bruise was forming. Her touch lasted longer than it did on Bruce's shoulder, but then she let her hand fall and she sighed. "This poor boy. He must've been so scared."

Bruce looked away. "Dinah, where are we on the blood dialysis?"

"It'll take some time, but I've done some preliminary scans. Biologically? He's around 23, 24," Dinah replied, handing Bruce the tablet. He gripped it in his hands, but didn't really see.

"Why couldn't he fight?" he asked, voice tight.

"His center of balance is way off," Dinah sighed, leaning over and taking Dick's pulse. She paused for a minute and then wrote down her findings. "He's not used to this body, or… I mean. We could be dealing with time travel. This could be a future version of Dick, and he might be disorientated but…"

"You don't think that's the case?" Bruce asked, already knowing why. He needed to talk this out. He needed to focus on something else.

Dinah sighed and leaned back, folding her arms. "No, I don't. When he first woke up, he complained about his voice. He wasn't used to it. It was like he was hearing it for the first time."

Bruce looked down. "We'll figure this out. We will."

**_To be continued…_ **

**Author's Note:**

> This will be continued separately.


End file.
